Audio

We are often asked why God allows evil in the world. Why do bad things keep happening? A radio listener called last week and asked, “Why does Jesus allow all the beheading and baby killing to go on?” These are good questions and we hope to be able to answer them. Of course, one broadcast is not sufficient to go in depth but I believe we can give you enough information to give you a biblical basis for trying to make sense out of these tragic events.

Why do bad things keep happening? They keep happening because:

This world is run by the devil – 2 Cor 4:4; Mk 3:22-27; Lk 4:5-6 – when we view or experience tragic events we are prone to ask why God allowed them to happen – our question presupposes that God is in charge of things down here and that he is, therefore, to blame when things go wrong – but the fact is that the devil is the god of this world; he is the strongman of this house; he is the one with the power and glory of the kingdoms –in other words, the devil is not doing bad things in God’s good world; God is doing good things in the devil’s bad world – the devil took control of the world from Adam – Gen 1:26.

This world is infested with sin – 1 Jn 2:16-17; Rom 5:12; Heb 2:14 – when God gave dominion of the world to Adam everything was very good [Gen 1:31] – when Adam sinned, the devil took over – now all that is in the world is sin – and the consequence of sin is death, because the devil has the power of death – just look what happened in Gen 4 right after the fall – Cain killed Abel [Jn 8:44].

Therefore, this world is consumed with bad things – Job 1-2 – sometimes the bad things are brought on by the devil [Jn 10:10] – Job, a perfectly upright man, is attacked by the devil for being good so that the devil can prove that he will curse God and die – Job had his faults but he never did curse God – Gen 6-8 – sometimes bad things are brought on by the Lord – so many wicked people roamed the earth in Noah’s day that the Lord overruled the devil and nature and destroyed every living thing save Noah and those who were with him in the ark – this world started with a murder and ends with billions dead from war, disease, famine, wild animals and “natural” disasters [Rev 6:8, Matt 24:7]

And these bad things don’t stop until Jesus comes – Matt 24:3 – when Jesus returns, this world ends and the devil is chained in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years [Rev 20:1-3] – then the wars cease [Is 2:4], the animals quit devouring each other [Is 11:6-9] and nature settles down [Is 40:4-5] – notice that when Jesus was here the first time, he cast out devils and he healed disease and he raised the dead – he was demonstrating his power over all these bad things that came as a result of sin and the devil – when he returns, he will put down most of the bad stuff and when he completes his reign he will throw the devil in the lake of fire and he will destroy death [Rev 20:10, 14; 1 Cor 15:25-26].

Conclusion: while it is true that the devil is the god of this world, it is also true that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life – when you trust the Lord as your Saviour he makes all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose – in other words, God is going to bless you with good things like his peace, protection, provision, power and so forth BUT bad things are still going to happen to good people – and in those times God is going to provide you with the grace and the strength to endure them [2 Cor 12:9-10] and he is going to get you out of here when you die [1 Thes 4:13-18]. Just remember then that we shouldn’t be surprised when bad things happen; rather we should be relieved and thankful when they don’t.